


Hostel Horror

by Lilsciencequeen



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Adorable FitzSimmons (Agents of SHIELD), F/M, Fluff, Meet-Cute, hostels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-26
Updated: 2018-04-26
Packaged: 2019-04-28 09:12:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14446050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilsciencequeen/pseuds/Lilsciencequeen
Summary: When a once in a lifetime vacation soon turns into the holiday from hell, Jemma finds herself alone in the hostel from hell but when she meets a cute Scottish engineer, things can't be all that bad, can they?





	Hostel Horror

**Author's Note:**

> I've been away for a while and life has been insane so I've not had time to update anything so please take this drabble that blew up as an I'm sorry.

Jemma groaned, rolling over in the bed, careful not to roll over the edge and fall out of it, hoping that she could get some sleep but with the increasing noise coming from the dorm room next to her, she knew that was out of the question. It had been hours since she had tried to sleep, and so far, she had been unsuccessful, so grabbing her phone and her hoodie, she shimmied out of the bed, careful so as not to wake the person sleeping on the bottom bunk and as she slid out of the room, she grabbed her box of tea bags, padding down to the kitchen.

And for the early hour that it was, the communal kitchen area was somewhat busy, people from a variety of countries around the world flitting around, making food and drinks, the smells of a dozen teas and twice as many snacks filling her nostrils. It took her a number of moments before she was able to grab a mug and access the kettle and when she got there a voice asked from beside her, “Is that Earl Grey?”

She turned, wondering where the voice was coming from and saw someone, a man with soft blue eyes and delicate brown curls. He seemed her age, not that much older if she had to guess. And he was Scottish. From somewhere close to home. “It is,” she replied, watching him, her gaze flickering all over him. “Would you like a bag?”

He nodded, then stopped, as if he were coming on too much. “Would that be…”

She nodded this time, passing him one and he accepted it, reaching up and grabbing his own mug and dropping it in, and once the water had boiled, Jemma passed him the kettle. “Are you here on holiday?” she asked, taking her mug and gesturing for him to follow her to the only free couch in the common area.

“No. The Stark Tech conference actually.”

Her eyes widened at this, hearing just what he was saying. “Are you presenting?”

He shook his head, laughing gently. “No, not this year. I took some time off, couldn’t work so my project missed the deadline, but it wasn’t something that I was going to miss. And I left it too late to book a hotel. You?”

“Backpacking with some… friends…”

A frown crossed his face as she said this, as if there were something off about his story. “Friends?”

She sighed, knowing that, despite the fact that this guy here, was nothing more than a complete stranger to her, she shouldn’t lie to him. “They left this afternoon, while I was at the library, decided what I was doing wasn’t interesting enough and headed up to the resort up the road, and I’m stuck here, until the end of the week when my flight leaves.” And she shook her head again, as if trying to say that it didn’t matter when it did.

“That’s kinda a dick move,” he told her but to that she just shrugged.

“I’m used to it by now.” She couldn’t help but wonder how much hurt there was in her voice when she said the words, she really hoped that there wasn’t much. She didn’t want to be dumping her issues on strangers like this.

But he shook his head. “You shouldn’t be though. If they’re your friends, they wouldn’t be doing this.”

She chewed on her lips. “It’s probably my fault anyway. I can be a bit over enthusiastic at times, to the point where it’s annoying actually so I suppose...” She trailed off, shaking her head. “Do you mind if we talk about something else? I just… I don’t want to dwell on this.”

“No no yeah that’s fine. I’m sorry I didn’t mean to push the issue.”

“No, no you didn’t. I’m just not very good when it comes to social interactions. But what about you? Here for Stark Tech? You said you’ve been here before for it?”

And with that question, that was all that was needed for the two of them to delve deep into a discussion about science, the wonders of the universe and the laws of thermodynamics, the talk going on for hours before Fitz, who she was sitting with and had only learnt the name off half way through the conversation, had to call it a night. He had an early start in the morning and wanted to get what sleep he could before the biggest day of the expo.

“No, it’s okay,” she told him. “Maybe I’ll see you around?”

He nodded. “Yeah… maybe. Well…” He reached up, seemingly at an impasse, not sure what to do now. “Well, enjoy the rest of your stay Simmons.”

Her lips flicked up into a smile as she reached for her mug. “You too Fitz.”

And with that, he walked off, stumbling to the door that lead to the stairs, and Jemma couldn’t help but wonder if she would see him again.

***

No matter how hard she tried to open the door, it wouldn’t budge, the thing remaining locked and she let out a frustrated sigh. Was it really that hard to get a shower? She tried again until a small plump woman came up to her and shook her head, saying something in broken English about the showers being closed for the rest of the week.

“Seriously?” Jemma asked, looking at her in shock. “All week? How am I supposed to shower?”

But that was met with a shrug from the woman, as if to say this wasn’t her issue, before shuffling off down the corridor. And then Jemma was alone, and she slid down against the door, her knees drawn up to her chest, her chin resting on top of them. She still had three days until she got home, and she wasn’t leaving it any longer to shower, 48 hours was already a push for her, and as she wallowed in self-pity, she missed footsteps approaching her.

“You okay?”

She looked up as a familiar voice asked the question and she saw him. Fitz. Fitz from the other night and as she tried to find the words, she shook her head. “No. No I’m not alright. I can’t get home until the weekend, I have no friends here, I’m alone in a country where I barely know the language and the showers are out of order for the rest of the week. So to answer your question, no. No. No I’m not alright.”

The words that left her were harsh, something that she never expected and before she could even so much as apologise, he was down on the ground beside her, wrapping his arms around her and letting her sob into his shoulder. “I’m so sorry,” she said after a number of moments. “I don’t know what came over me.”

“It’s okay,” he told her, rubbing at her back, seeing how much she needed this. “You’ve had a bad week. It’s okay to be angry.”

“But I shouldn’t have snapped at you. You’ve done nothing wrong. You’ve been nothing but kind to me.”

“Trust me, if you want to snap, snap away. I’ve had worse, believe me.”

She nodded into him, still feeling guilty but too emotionally drained to do anything else. It had been a long couple of months travelling but the last week had been the worst, and she just wanted to go home at this point. She had been snapping, she had been angry and here was this complete stranger, allowing her to cry on his shoulder.

“Do you want to shower in my room?” he asked, and she pulled away, looking up at him and she frowned, somewhat confused and panic passed over his face as if he had overstepped the mark, as if he had made a mistake. “It’s just…it’s just me in the room. And I’ve an en-suite and you… you look like you need it.”

A small smiled passed over her face as if she were contemplating something. “Are you sure? I don’t want to impose on you.”

He shook his own head, his lips flitting up into a small smile itself. “I don’t mind. I can go downstairs, give you some privacy?”

“Thank you,” she told him, meaning it from the bottom of her heart. “I can’t thank you enough for everything Fitz.”

“Nah, don’t worry about it.” He reached over and grabbed her pile of items that she had brought with her. “Is there anything else that you want with you from your room?”

She shook her head, standing up and using the wall to help her. “No, no I have everything here.” She watched as he stood, still holding her stuff. “Honestly, thank you. You don’t even know me and I can’t thank you enough for everything that you’ve done for me on this trip. You’ve been the kindest person to me.”

He didn’t reply to this, he just looked nervous, as if he didn’t know just how to reply to this. So, he changed the topic, turning and walking down the corridor, talking on about everything and anything, but the words were just going over her, she wasn’t really taking any of them in. “It’s just in here,” he said, the words finally registering with her. “Room 084.” He passed her the key card, a nervous smile flitting across his face as though he were unsure about something. “I’ll leave you to shower in peace, I know the last thing that you’d want is to be showering with some strange guy in the room. I’ll give you what, an hour?”

She shook her head. There was no way she needed that length of time to get showered, especially if it was a stranger’s room. “Half an hour is fine, I’ll be out before you even get back.”

“Right, yeah, no worries. I’ll be back whenever, just… take all the time that you need okay? Don’t worry about using all the hot water or anything, I had a shower this morning.”

She beamed at him, the thought of a hot shower taking over her, and then, she was standing there, in the corridor, alone, so she unlocked his room and slid in, flicking the lock behind her to be on the safe side, and padded towards the bathroom.

It was a small bathroom, not much more than a basic shower, a toilet and a sink but to her, it was all that she needed. She flicked the seat of the toilet down, setting all her possessions on top of it before flicking the shower on, stripping and climbing into it, the hot water running down her back one of the best things that she had felt all week. She allowed the water to run down her back, dragging all the dirt and hurt with it, the droplets spiralling down the drain and to who knows where. She spent a number of minutes like that, simply enjoying the water running over her before she grabbed her shampoo, working it into a lather in her hair before washing it out and grabbing her soap, cleansing herself.

Though it wasn’t the longest showers she had had, it was one of the nicest, no _the_ nicest shower she had had in recent weeks. It was just how private it was, how peaceful it was, how warm it was, she almost didn’t want to get out of it in the end, but she knew she had to, and she grabbed her towel, and dried herself, before getting back into a fresh set of clothes that she had brought back with her and began to fix her hair in the mirror while she had time alone, as unlike herself, Fitz had the entire room to himself (not that she was jealous or anything), when a knock on the door jolted her out of thoughts. “Jemma!” came the voice from the opposite side. “Please tell me your still in there, I kinda forgot I only had the one key…”

He never finished, as he found himself face to face with a smiling Jemma, who looked much better than she had been only half an hour ago. “Fitz, I should have noticed…”

“It wasn’t your fault,” he told her, still standing in the corridor, holding two mugs of tea. “I just…”

“Nonsense,” she shook her head, moving aside. “And anyway, I should be letting you have some peace, God knows we don’t get it here.”

He bit his lip, holding up the two mugs. “I was kinda wondering if you wanted to have tea with me, would give you some peace and maybe a friendly face to talk to? And I should have some proper British junk food lying about somewhere…”

“Hobnobs?”

He nodded, shimmying his way into the room, setting the mugs down and reaching into a bag that was half packed, half unpacked, throwing notebooks and packets of chocolates to the side as he did so. “Where are they… I didn’t eat them all so there should be… Ah ha!” He held up the biscuits, victorious in his quest for them. “Sorry they’re a bit squashed, getting them through security was a bit of a nightmare.”

“Nonsense,” she told him, reaching for the mugs, and making her own way across the room, sitting opposite him on the bed, cross-legged as he accepted the mug that was his. “You have to tell me all about this Stark Tech project you’re working on. You never did get to tell me about it all the other night.”

“On one condition, you tell me about your project with S.H.I.E.L.D., your work with dendrotoxins, I’ve been reading some stuff about it the past few weeks, its making massive leaps and bounds in the scientific community.”

“You’ve been following that?” She seemed surprised by his words, she knew that she was getting a lot of coverage in the bio-chemistry community but she didn’t think that he had been keeping up with it.

“Who hasn’t? You’ve made some of the biggest advancements in recent years.”

“Yeah,” she snorted. “But I can’t find the correct mechanisms for dispersal.”

“I think I have something that might help,” he muttered, reaching over for a notebook, rifling through it before smiling widely. “Here we go.”

And so they did, talking for hours about everything and anything, working through some the problems that Jemma was facing, and a handful of the ones that Fitz was facing. They talked late in to the night, until the first yawn escaped Jemma.

“Oh,” she whispered, as if shocked by the very reaction. “I’m so…”

“You don’t have to apologise,” he told her, shuffling some papers away. “We can always continue this tomorrow and I can see if I can get you a ticket to the expo. I know its sold out but I might be able to…”

“Oh Fitz, you don’t have to.”

“But I _want_ to.”

“Then let me take you out for coffee, somewhere… a thank you for letting me shower here, for everything this week.”

His eyebrow raised, his lip flicking up. “Are you asking me out Jemma Simmons?”

She felt her cheeks burn red as he asked her the question, because, yes, yes she had been trying to ask him out and now she was terrified that she had been too forward and had caused offense. “Only… only if you want…”

“I would love that.”

**Author's Note:**

> The showers being closed for the rest of the week is _not_ based on a real life hostelling experience. Nope. Not at all. 
> 
> Thanks so much for checking out, I hope you enjoyed!


End file.
